US embassy cable - 02HARARE2726

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 002726 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER 
LONDON FOR CGURNEY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2007 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, PHUM, ZI 
SUBJECT: ZCTU LEADERSHIP GATHERING CONSENSUS FOR MASS ACTION 
 
REF: HARARE 02620 
 
Classified By: Laboff KRBel for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C)  Our main contact at the Solidarity Center has 
confirmed that the leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade 
Unions (ZCTU) are seeking organizational consensus for 
support of a mass stayaway to be called on or around December 
9 (reftel).   According to this contact, the National Council 
of the ZCTU met over the weekend to assess whether the time 
is appropriate to call for another mass action.  In the wake 
of stagnant salaries, rampant inflation, plummeting value of 
the currency, and increasing worker unease, the ZCTU has 
decided that the time is ripe.  They have therefore resolved 
to urge the regional councils to support the call for a 
country-wide stayaway. 
 
2. (C)  The major concerns for the ZCTU seem to be adequate 
publication of the stayaway and timely communication to 
members outside the city centers.  The leadership is 
painfully aware of the potential consequences of another 
failed call for mass action, after the failed stayaway which 
they attempted to call immediately after the March 
presidential election.  The GOZ lost no time in attacking the 
ZCTU over that "flop" as an organization which had abandoned 
advocacy of worker issues, had lost relevance to the 
situation of rank-and-file workers, and had devolved into a 
"political" organization.  Given that response, and the 
increasingly aggressive rhetoric which the GOZ has leveled at 
the ZCTU through various channels since, the ZCTU is 
determined not to call for mass action unless there is broad, 
nation-wide support for the stayaway. 
 
3. (C)  As with the previous failed stayaway, broad-based 
communication is key.  The GOZ has apparently become more 
savvy about the relative value of lambasting calls for mass 
action in the government-controlled media.  While public GOZ 
comment against such calls gives the government the 
opportunity to threaten potential participants and spread 
more vitriol against the ZCTU, failure to publicize a call 
for mass action means that many in the outlying areas may not 
participate.  If (as is the case in many rural areas) the 
only mass communication is via the government-controlled 
media -- both print and broadcast -- and they do not provide 
free publicity for the ZCTU, then the ZCTU's task of 
communicating effectively is even more crucial.  The ZCTU's 
leaders are aware of this, and this seems to be the impetus 
behind their caution in throwing support behind the call for 
mass action without careful consultation. 
SULLIVAN